Springfield Falcons special teams looking . . . special

SPRINGFIELD - There's something special going on with the Springfield Falcons.

Their special teams have become dominant, at both ends of the ice.

They have become especially adept at killing penalties. With a strategy implemented by assistant coach David Bell, the Falcons have gotten progressively better at playing short-handed.

They have allowed 10 power-play goals in nine games, but only one in the last five.

"We struggled with the PK early in the season, but we've been getting better at it. It's a case of outworking the other team on their power play," Captain Tim Sestito said after the Falcons beat Lowell 4-1 at the MassMutual Center Friday night.

One of the goals was a short-handed effort by Liam Reddox after teammates Sestito and Theo Peckham had worked to get him free.

In sweeping Lowell home and away over the weekend, the Falcons penalty-killers smothered the power play, leaving the Devils 0-for-14.

Over their last five games, Falcon opponents have gone 1-for-31 in power-play situations.

"It takes a special kind of skill to kill penalties," Falcons coach Jeff Truitt said before Friday's game.

The Springfield coach has found the right combinations for the job. When playing short-handed, the Falcons rotate eight players - forwards Sestito, Reddox, Guillaume Lefebvre and Tyler Spurgeon, and defensemen Bryan Young, Jake Taylor, Peckham and Taylor Chorney.

At the same time, the Falcons have gotten better with their own power play. They have scored nine goals in 45 power-play situations, a .200 percentage. That's a respectable number, ranking the Falcons fourth in the 29-team AHL.

Rockford leads with a .246, followed by Providence (.235) and Bridgeport (.205).

The Falcons have two power-play units - Rob Schremp, Ryan Potulny and Carl Corazzini working with defensemen Cody Wild and Peckham; Reddox, Gilbert Brule, Derek Bekar and Slava Truhno working with defensemen Sebastien Bisaillon and Chorney.

They play in front of goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who has started all nine Springfield games (2.67 goals-against average).

ICE CHIPS: The Falcons made one roster change Monday, assigning defenseman Josef Hrabal to Stockton of the ECHL ... Potulny, who already has had three two-goal games, leads the Falcons with eight in nine games. Reddox and Schremp each have eight points. Trukhno seven ... Reddox has four goals in the last three games ... Hershey center Keith Aucoin, a former Norwich University player from Waltham, is the AHL's player of the month for October. He's a veteran of 447 AHL games, in which he has posted 451 points ... Philadelphia's Danny Syvret, a former Falcon, was among the player of the month nominees ... Chicago's Ondrej Pavelec earned goaltender of the month honors, then was promoted to the NHL Saturday by the Atlanta Thrashers ... Player of the week for Oct. 27-Nov. 2 is Hamilton's Marc Denis, a goaltender who has played in the NHL with Colorado, Columbus and Tampa Bay. Potulny was among the other nominees .¤.¤. Truitt took his team on a weekend overnight bus trip for a "team bonding" experience. "They went to parts unknown," said Falcons media relations director Damon Markiewicz. The Birds will be back in their Nest at the MassMutual Center this morning to start working for games Friday at Portland and Saturday at Hartford.